Business services, such as banking, telecom or postal play a significant role in the day-to-day life of individuals. To access these services, customers typically provide information using one or more application forms, which may vary from service-to-service. For example, if a customer wishes to open-up a new bank account, the customer provides information on an account opening form. Similarly, a customer may complete a loan application form if applying for a loan.
In order to subscribe for banking services, a customer may need to provide information on an application form, usually at a bank branch, and submit the completed or partially completed form to a bank representative. The branch representative then typically manually checks the application form to verify whether the application form is filled-out completely and correctly. Based on this document review, the customer may need to correct errors or provide additional information so that the application is sufficiently completed. Thereafter, the bank representative typically again verifies the application form focusing on the corrected entries. Subsequently, the application form is forward, for example, by courier to a central location or back-office for further verification and processing. At the back-office, the forms undergo a complete verification, including checking supporting documents, such as a PAN (Personal Account Number) card, driver's license, or the like. If the forms are found to be incomplete or if the supporting documents are unavailable, the forms are returned to the customer in order to obtain the missing information or documents. This process continues until the application form is appropriately or sufficiently complete along with the supporting documents.
The above approach may involve significant manual effort in reviewing the forms, thereby unnecessarily increasing form processing time. In one scenario, a bank representative, who is visiting a customer intending to open a new bank account, is unable to check the completeness and correctness of an application form filled-out by the customer at the customer's location. Thus, the bank representative sends the application form to the back-office for processing the form. This results in increased operational cost as well as reduced customer satisfaction. Accordingly, a significant cost, both in terms of time and resources, is spent on checking forms completed at the customer's location and at the back-office. It may, therefore, be advantageous to enhance the efficiency of the above process for processing forms.